Welcome to Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Your Kitchener (Kitchener, Waterloo, Elmira )
area contact is John Fishbein (REMAX Twin City Realty Inc.) Please refer to the "Relocating to Kitchener" section to the right for
the phone number, address, website, and email address to contact John Fishbein directly.
Ask about the REMAX MLS homes for sale including residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and farms.
Kitchener summary
The City of Kitchener is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The
current population is 204,668. The metropolitan area, which includes the neighbouring cities of Waterloo and Cambridge, has 451,235 people, making it the eleventh
largest Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) in Canada and the fifth largest CMA in Ontario. It is the seat of the Waterloo Regional Municipality, and is adjacent to the
smaller cities of Cambridge to the south, and Waterloo to the north. Kitchener and Waterloo are often referred to jointly as "Kitchener-Waterloo", although they
have separate municipal governments. Including Cambridge, the three cities are known as "the tri-cities".
The City of Kitchener covers an area of 136.86 square kilometres. In 2004, the city celebrated its 150th anniversary.
While Waterloo has benefited from the presence of two universities and a number of high tech companies, Kitchener has been a more blue-collar town. The auto-parts
manufacturer Budd Canada continues to employ over 1500 workers. The Huron Business Park is also the site of a number of industries, from seat manufacturers to
furniture components. A number of the old industrial companies of Kitchener have fallen on harder times: the Kaufmann shoe manufacturer has closed its factory,
Schneider Foods (a meat producer) has been bought out and operations scaled back, and companies like Electrohome have ceased local production in favour of licensing
or supply agreements with overseas makers. Still, occupations unique to manufacturing, processing and utilities cover as much as 15% of the local workforce.
Kitchener's downtown core, though improved in recent years, had experienced urban decay, thanks largely to the decline of industrial jobs in the city and the growth
of its suburbs. Things worsened when urban renewal plans in the 1960s cost the city its neo-classical city hall and did not achieve its goals of redevelopment. In
the late 1990s, an arsonist began destroying abandoned and underused buildings in Kitchener's downtown, the issue of downtown renewal and cleanup of the adjoining
Victoria Park neighbourhood came to the fore in municipal elections and has been the focus of city council for the past ten years. Achievements during this period
include selling off a dying mall and converting it to office space for Manulife Financial, a major insurance firm, relocating a theatre downtown, converting the old
Goudies department store to a Children's Museum, and converting vacant industrial space into residential units.
REMAX MLS real estate homes for sale including
residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and
farms.
The city now boasts a new city hall, and a new farmer's market opened in 2004. Other projects include an assortment of lofts, utilizing old factories. Various plans
for 20 floor condo units have been put in place. And although Waterloo is home to many insurance companies, two universities, and high-tech industries, Kitchener is
hoping to increase demand for office space by building office towers and inviting companies from around the golden triangle to move in.
REMAX MLS real estate homes for sale including
residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and
farms.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the University of Waterloo school of pharmacy and downtown health sciences campus was officially held on March 15, 2006. The building
will be located on King Street near Victoria Street, across the street from the former Kaufmann shoe factory (now being converted to lofts).
Economic and social impacts from the new health sciences campus that are expected to be felt locally include: the potential for more family doctors and other health
professionals practicing in the city and region; significant economic benefits associated with an injection of as many as 1,200 students, faculty and staff to the
downtown core each day and spin off business and industry that will diversify the economy and bring additional jobs to the area.
The redevelopment of the centre block in downtown Kitchener has its vision set and is planned to start sometime in 2008. It will include a 12 story and an 18 story
condominium, more retail spaces, the redevelopment of the Mayfair Hotel and a central courtyard.
REMAX MLS real estate homes for sale including
residential houses, apartments, condos, duplexes, acreages and
farms.
Text & photo credits
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It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kitchener, Ontario".
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